Furious | Surly Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
A tempest on the tongue, or a moment of pure hop bliss? Brewed with a dazzling blend of American hops and Scottish malt, this crimson-hued ale delivers waves of citrus, pine and carmel-toffee. For those who favor flavor, Furious has the hop-fire your taste buds have been screaming for.

Reviews by tectactoe:

Huge shoutout to maximum12 for throwing me some of these. He is an amazing trader - absolutely crushed me with extras. Ever since I fell head over heels in love with Abrasive, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this stuff. It pours a brown-tinted copper color, deep and rustic; light ruby hints blanket the edges. The eggshell-colored cap is cloudy and puffy, showing insane retention and leaving some fat, chunky lacing behind. Beautiful beer.

The best way for me to accurately describe the aroma would be "fresh hops". It doesn't sound like much, but the pureness and unabashed raw power radiating from this brew is simply excellent. It doesn't have as large of a citric quality as Abrasive (and I don't believe it is supposed to), but it makes up for that with some of the freshest hop aromas in the neighborhood. Leaves, grass, and florals, along with a very mild pepper spice. Simply bursting with raw hoppy goodness.

Though the fruity aspect may not be as big as Abrasive, that would be like saying Tiger Woods isn't as good of a golfer as Arnold Palmer. Furious still has a large citrus presence in the background of the aroma - zesty grapefruit peels and juicy citrus quadrants. There's a mild, oily pungency that hits hard in the final moments of the aroma's time inside your nostrils. Furious smells damn good; I imagine it's largely on par with sticking your face into a bucket full of fresh hops and citrus peels. Doesn't get much better.

The flavor profile is build upon a blanket of lightly toasted caramel and toffee flavored malts. It's evident from the appearance of Surly that caramel malts may have been used and the first sip easily confirms that. The malty body couples nicely with the heavy, earthy hop foundation. Peppery, herbal, ashy, and leafy, the hops carry over the same tone of freshness that they had in the aroma onto the palate. The earthy qualities may be a little more pronounced, but it still screams "hops!"

Grapefruit rinds and tangerines peels outline the s edges, providing a slight balance to the hop flavors and the faint sweetness from the malts. Bitterness is pretty relevant throughout the entirety of the glass (or can, I should say), although it's low enough to gulp Furious without hurting your mouth - this stuff goes down way too easy. I couldn't believe when I found out this stuff is 99 IBUs; doesn't taste like it at all. A very nice collaboration of bread, caramel, peppery hops, and grass leaves your palate satisfied after every sip. Medium bodied, crisp from high carbonation, just on the edge of being sticky and coating.

Well, there you have it. This stuff is amazing. So easy to drink and so damn delicious. Reasonably priced for a 4-pack of 16 oz. cans, too. Why in the hell doesn't this stuff leave Minnesota? If I could go to the store and buy this myself, it would easily be a staple in my fridge. Or my life.

More User Reviews:

16oz can, at 6.6% ABV, and thanks be to rogerdandy for the donation to the cause. I never knew this brewery had so many awesome-sounding products!

This beer pours a clear, medium copper amber colour, with four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly ecru head, which leaves some layered gear chain lace around the glass as it gently seeps out of sight.

The carbonation is nice and supportive in its sturdy and yet frivolous frothiness, the body a dense middleweight, and mostly smooth, the hops kind of stepping on a few stems and pistils in their traipsing through this particular rose garden. It finishes off-dry, the biscuity caramel seeming to show just a bit more lingering heft than those swirling hop kiddies.

Yeah, this shit is good enough to make me irksome, and perhaps a tad mad that I hadn't yet encountered its pumped-up American IPA goodness. It's always when ya aren't looking, that crazily enjoyable stuff like this falls right into your lap, and even faster down your waiting gullet. Excuse me, I have to go get a bit more riled up with the rest of this tall-boy can.

A: The beer is clear dark amber in color and has no visible carbonation. It poured with a half finger high beige head that only died down a little and consistently left a thin head covering the surface.
S: The smell is moderately strong and has an interesting mix of citrus, tropical fruit and pine resin aromas from the hops.
T: The taste is very similar to the smell and is dominated by complex flavors from the hops. There is a moderate amount of bitterness.
M: It feels medium-bodied and very crisp on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: The mixture of aromas and flavors from the hops make this a very interesting IPA to sip and savor.

came out the can a cloudy dark orangish amber--darker than I'd have expected, if I had an expectation. The head rose a scant 1/2" and left the area quickly, leaving a film. Sniffwise, got to be at least 99% grapefruit. My hopes that this one-sided character would not carry through through to the taste were quickly dashed, however. Grapefruit juice, grapefruit pulp, grapefruit pith, fresh grapefruit, boiled grapefruit . . . (activate Bubba Gump voice if desired). Not to offend grapefruit fanatics, but this is a beer I have looked forward to trying for a very long time and I could already get plenty of grapefruit bombs. Better describe the finish to make this review legit. Grapefruit. The feel is fine, I guess, if you can ignore that your mouth is full of fizzy grapefruit pulp, grapefruit juice, grapefruit pith, grapefruit rind, and possibly some bits of videotape from an old Oceanspray commercial.

What was I thinking ?
(Am I being subjected to the onset of short-term memory loss ?)
I've Had Furious and several Surly beers and most (if not all) were too hoppy for me.
Yet, I let history (and mistakes) repeat itself. So, my rating reflects my being mad at myself. (I actually think that Surly celebrates the mainstream of American craft beer culture well... and so do its fans.)

My mistake seems setup by the Fates... from a limited beer list in a nice restaurant (that pushed wine), I order this can of Furious on a snowy April day.
While the aroma was interesting, the hops take over. I drank fast before any food came. By the second course (a delicate spring vegetable risotto), my taste buds nearly got back to normal. Barely.

#1 Moral of the story: don't forget what you don't like... and keep it appropriate.
#2 Moral: write your reviews so you remember what you don't like.... and can keep it appropriate.

Furious is reviewed in "1001 Beers to Taste Before You Die." (And arguable by me at least, should not be.)
So next is the existential question: Is drinking an inappropriate beer twice similar to dying twice?

I've had this twice now - at Darkness Day, and at Night of the Living Ales. It's always a huge treat to have this one. Served in my NLA taster glass.

A - Hazy orange-brown color, with a nice bunch of persistent bubbles on top. Not much in the way of head or lace. It's a cask beer - this is how they look! I just find cask beer decidedly unsexy looking, even if I love the taste & mouthfeel.

S - Wow! Furious on crack! Tremedous citrus (tangerine, grapefruit, orange) with some tropical fruits (pineapple & mango). There's also some floral and grassy notes not present in regular Furious - I'm guessing there is a huge amount of amarillo involved in the second dry-hopping. In any case, it's huge & delicious.

T - It's just as delicious as regular Furious. Tons of hops, candied citrus, solid caramel malt balance, with a mild residual bitterness. I did notice that after the fifth or sixth pour the bitterness got a bit tiring. It's also a tiny bit of a letdown from the smell. Those two elements keep me from giving this a perfect score.

D - Hmm...low carbonation + medium ABV + incredible flavor = I can't stop drinking this. It's probably a good thing Tea-Bagged Furious isn't available more often, otherwise I'd be adhered to a bar stool somewhere and my wife would be filing a missing persons report - seriously though, this is an incredible brew, and combines the best of extreme American hop profile with traditional English real ale texture. If appearance didn't matter so much on this site it'd be my top-ranked brew.

Canned 7/17/14 and poured 9/8/14. Price interestingly enough isn't on the can like the others one I got from Four Firkins. I'd guess maybe $4 for a single can wouldn't be far off.

Appearance: Semi-aggressive pour gives the darkest looking single IPA I think I've ever seen. A copper brown color with some orange tints. There are also a lot of "floaters" in the glass. The head is sand colored and bout a finger in height, and there is a little bit of initial sticky lacing. Looks pretty nice. (4.25/5)

Smell: Wow that is a malty sweet smelling IPA, yet it's coupled with insane amounts of hops. Man. Tropical fruits and citrus galore in this beer with maybe a slight floral character. This was canned about two months ago but the strength of the hop aroma coming from Furious wouldn't suggest that at all. (4.75/5)

Taste/feel: I'm assuming it's the choice of hops in this beer, but there's something different about this beer as opposed to many others in the style. I get a really nice malt flavor on the front, but without a lot of sweetness -- hops immediately take over and the beer's bitter from then on. Loads of every tropical fruit ever (except durian... is that considered tropical?) with citrus, pine resin, and a little floral notes as well coming through. Aftertaste is a bit "sticky" from the hops, quite bitter, and with a little lingering malt flavor. Rinse and repeat. This beer is packing an impressive amount of flavor even at "just" 6.2%. The body is about medium with a fairly high, prickly carbonation. It seems weird, because this beer feels like it could easily be a DIPA, but considering the ABV, it works well. (4.5/5, 4/5)

I'd've LOVED to find Abrasive when I was in Minneapolis so I could compare the two, but I guess it's not out right now. Hopefully next time. Furious is a great beer that's appropriately named. This is an IPA that's in your face with the hops... but it remains somewhat balanced. Sure, it's bitter and hoppy as hell, but Surly surely didn't forget the malts. This drinks like a world-class DIPA for the most part, but it's actually a single IPA... that makes it all the more impressive.

This beer is amazing!!!
A: a deep golden amber
S: nice aroma of hops & malt
T: hops upfront with a sweet malt backbone
F: so smooth
O: the balance of malt & hops is incredible. I new this beer was great & I wasn't let disappointed.

Rustic orange-butterscotch with a gorgeous infusion of sunset coral red when backlit. A few stray bubbles rise slowly through the hop dust haze to plonk into the underside of a heavily cream cap of pastel caramel foam. Although it isn't quite a lace monster, the array of abstract patterned lace definitely qualifies as eye candy.

The nose is simply out of this world. If anything, it smells even better than I remember (and I remember it as outstanding). First of all, there's a generous amount of caramel malt present, which usually keeps me from loving an IPA's aroma. Not here though. Furious smells like buttery toffee mixed with an avalanche of primarily citric hops that are as complex in character as they are powerfully aromatic. In a word... perfect.

Furious is furiously hoppy, but it's so much more than that. It's rare to drink a beer that is this over the top with bitterness, yet this delicious. I was also going to say drinkable, but only the most hopheaded among us are likely to find that that word applies. Only 99 IBUs? It tastes like at least a hundred to me.

The secret to this excellent India Pale Ale, other than the dizzying amount of hop flavor and hop bitterness, is in the hop bill itself. Who would have thought that a combination of Amarillo, Ahtanum, Simcoe and Warrior would result in a beer with such a broad and deep flavor profile? Caramel covered white grapefruit pith is dominant. Candied pineapple and all manner of fermented tropical fruity funk are present as well.

Another good thing about Furious (among innumerable good things) is that it doesn't taste like any other IPA that I've ever had. With so many versions of the style out there, that's no small feat. Another is that I only need one hand to count the IPAs that are more hoppy. This sucker is punishing... but in a good way of course.

I'm not the least bit surprised that the mouthfeel is on par with the rest of the beer. It's closer to full than to medium (for the style) with a creaminess that is sometimes hard to appreciate with all the tongue abuse that's goin' on. I'm sure it isn't easy to create a beer that is this relentlessly hoppy that is also this supremely smooth in the mouth.

I'm a huge fan of Surly Brewing Company beer. These guys have everything that it takes to compete in the rarified air occupied by the very best American craft breweries. It all starts with vision. The fact that they also have the desire, the dedication and the talent to realize that vision is what will guarantee their success. Furious is pretty damn close to IPA perfection.

Finally after long last my FIRST Surly beer,thanks Erik.Pours a deep burnt orange color with a full half finger slight off white head that leaves a few broken rings of lace as it settles.Hop oils really jump out at ya in the aromas just resiny and sharp goodness,sweetish caramel malts stand out as well.Resiny and with sharp grapefruit rind hops up front on the palate,alot of sharpness,followed by some nuttiness and quite sweet caramel malts.It is a big hop machine,sharp and bitter,I love the hops and really like this beer.

Appearance: Dirty ruby-orange body with lots of carbonation and a head that just wont quit. The beige crown is exceptionally thick both in dimension and in density. This froth reminds me of a trick a Czech broad taught me years ago when I was staying with her in France. If one could balance a small coin, the pre-Euro Czech equivalent to the dime on the head of a beer for ten seconds, then the beer was good. Well this beer looks like its froth could balance a half dollar for a minute!

Aroma: Pine tree forest soaked in butter toffee. I can smell bitterness to the point where my eyes are watering. Some fruity esters of pineapple and touches of citrus. Pine really dominates.

Taste/Mouthfeel: Painful. Furious is one of the most antagonistic and rancorous beers to have4 ever touched my lips. It hurts to drink. The body is so dry that I started to get a dehydration headache after a few gulps. To make matters worse, it seemed to fry my taste buds so that after the first sip or two I couldnt really taste the beer, save a vague pine quality and the presence of acrid citrus. Big, huge, bitterness and hop presence but not in a good way for me. I can see why others love this but this is just too bitter and unbalanced for my liking and therefore not drinkable in the slightest.

Thanks to Jeff Krenner for the 4-packs.

Side Note: I had the tea-bagged Furious on cask and liked it much more than the regular.